Memories of a ghost
by TheDarkestShinobi
Summary: First off review if you have a better title for it:  He could only hope that he didn't become one of those men that visited the cemetery often just to relive the past and try to fool himself into believing that she was still here, still with him.


**TheDarkestShinobi: **Well this is a sad fic. I had someone in mind while writing this but it's perfectly acceptable for you to think of anyone. I'm not sure if I will add to it yet. Let me know what you think!

**Story start**

It was so late the only creature awake was the ninja. They crept slowly and silently waiting to strike.

Except for one.

His feet made a small yet audible sound as he walked through the village. All stayed away from him. They let him mourn in peace. It would not be the same for any other ninja; any other ninja would be scolded for his connection to the now dead girl. He was however, _the_ ninja. No one would dare appear to him now.

They simply watched him walk.

It reinforced everything that they knew. Love could kill a ninja better than a sword. A woman was a quick path to destruction, even for the greatest of them all. If you hadn't believed the word of your sensei, then simply look down. The greatest ninja of all time walked in front of you, dead to the world, because of a woman he loved.

She hadn't even loved him back.

.

Ryu had walked past the stones with names written on them and walked towards the solitary graves. She had been placed in the solitary grave because of her connection with the main family, with Hayate their leader. He really had loved her, they all did. He shook his head placed the flowers over the grave silently. He stood there and simply watched the grave, he watched as his hair and long scarf rode the wind as if to free themselves from him. He knelt and traced the Kanji that read the woman's name on the stone slab. It was not like there was anything left to say. He looked down. That's wasn't true.

There was a lot to say. There was nothing she could hear.

He hated being here. He hated that he had to come here. He hates the fact that his love is dead. He hates the fact that one moment Friday morning she was telling him that it would be wise to cook the fish longer and the next her blood was all over him. Her body twitching as the last of her blood flowed through. He hated that her last words were. "I wouldn't want to be unintentionally poisoned by the super ninja."

He could only hope that he didn't become one of those men that visited the cemetery often just to relive the past and try to fool himself into believing that she was still here, still with him, in some spiritual way. He knew it wasn't true.

He wanted to come here though. He couldn't mourn her anywhere else. He couldn't morn her in the very city in which she was so vividly embedded into his memory. He could still see her laughing by this corner, her smiling in front of that door. It was easy to mourn her here and start to forget about her.

She had been nothing but dead here.

He kneeled before the grave in seiza and knew he was breaking every rule when it came to her. He had trusted too easily, had stood beside her when he should have stepped back to protect the village, had taken her out of harm's way instead of letting her die, he loved her.

It was such a forbidden love.

She had told him that. She also told him that she didn't love him.

Ryu was the envy of many. He was considered to be the perfect ninja, the perfect man, he was, to all, a symbol of unachievable perfection. One of those who envied him was his best friend, Hayate. Ryu could never understand the envy but he left it as is until he had seen her graceful lips meet his cheek one day. It was in public, no one had even looked twice. There were no condescending looks, no shaking heads, nothing seemed out of place.

Her love for Hayate was acceptable, the love she had for him wasn't, and so she never acted on it.

He had accepted she didn't love him.

Then she died to protect him.

His shoulders had always been firm and straight, a simple thing that had always made him seem so strong and powerful, now they sagged and his hands lay limp in his lap. His head had always been held high with confidence and pride had now hung there as his hair swept the ground with the aid of the now low wind. His proper seiza style had broken down into the position of despair.

It was all because of her.

Ryu sat lost in his thoughts, memories and regrets until the sun peeked out from behind the horizon. He didn't care. She was his life, whether or not she had wanted to be and without her he was perfectly content to stay there by her side. It was where he always should have been. The shadows had done him no good. He could feel the warmth on his back and closed his eyes.

He could pretend that was her hugging him from behind.

It got warmer and he began to feel somewhat content until he felt a chill run through his body. So warm, hot almost, drip… drip… her warm embraced turned into a blanket of blood. It coated his back and crept through his front. There she was, as clear as day, in front of him, in two pieces.

The sword sliced cleanly, it splattered accordingly.

He felt the thick blood chill his own and spread the fire through his body and it surrounded him. It squeezed him. He felt it constrict his airways. He opened his mouth slightly to take a deep breath and then the blood seemed to enter his mouth. He felt it poison him and suffocate him. Like she did. Poison. So hot. Wet. Torturous.

He opened his eyes.

Her tomb was possibly a worse image.

He stood slowly. There was nothing he could do.

It would all be too little too late.

It couldn't change a damn thing.

He couldn't change a damn thing.

He rested his hand on the top of the tomb and allowed the first and only tear to leak from his eye. It was small, and it didn't even make it down his cheek, but it was more than he gave his parents and much more than he would have given anyone else.

He turned.

Away from her.

From everything.

He would never turn back.

**TDS: **review


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